Mural

BYU Students have painted murals at several local venues, including the Princess Basma Hospital for disabled children, but this past semester the administration wanted to have a mural on our own playground wall.  I was asked to help Amy Faust lead the committee of talented students such as Rachel Reese, Jamie Price, Ally Mocan, Kylie Jones, and others who sketched ideas for the 200 yard-long mural. 

Above, Emily, Sabrina, and Amanda enjoy climbing and sliding at the playground.

The final plan consisted of 4 arches framing 4 scenes: an olive tree and view of the city as seen from the Jerusalem Center, an underwater aquascape reminiscent of snorkeling in Eilat, an open air market similar to those found in the old city or the shuk, and Egypt. 

 I was assigned to work on the arches and the city silhouette.  This is the view from our balcony, so you can see that the imitation could never match up to the original:

Our excellent maintenance staff bought paints, brushes, and a huge roll of cardboard to protect the rubber surface of the playground.  This worked really well during the dry November weather, but not so great during the windy rainstorms of December.

The kids drew on the wall with pencil before the mural covered all their scribbles.  We fit in one painting session before the students went to Galilee, and everything went smoothly, excep that we ran out of the "Maple Pecan" paint for the arches.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get more immediately because it was after 3 pm on a Friday, and the paint stores were closed.  But it was good to make some progress.

 Heather Benefiel, me, Lisa, Aly Seifert, Lexi Goates, Amy Carsten, and Jocelynn Maughan lent a helping hand.  Only two shirts were ruined in the making of this photo.  Below is the beginning of the cityscape and the original arches. 

The next painting session was ten days later around Thanksgiving, however the new cans of "Maple Pecan" didn't match the previous one, so we ended up painting over the arches we had done before and redoing the "Herodian stone" edges.

Below, Jamie Price sketches her adorable fishy scene.  Jamie is studying medical illustration, but the others are majoring in fields other than art.  And all sacrificed study time (or city time, or sleep time) to work on this project.

Ally Mocan filled a last-minute vacancy with her wonderful Egypt landscape. 

More helpers fill in fine details: Megan, Amy Faust, Lisa Compton, Carrie, and Tashara Muhlestein. 

 Caitlin Clark helped straighten out our final arches.  The arches were described with a pencil taped to a jumprope.

McKell Jesperson, Rachel Reese, and Lisa work on the shuk scene.  My kids begged to help, and the older ones were graciously allowed to use the "grown-up paint."

Tahna Black and Ally Mocan progressed quickly on Egypt.  Great teamwork! 

B.J. "Jack Sparrow" Muhlestein helped paint around the light in the background.  

   

Cherysh Hubbard, Sabrina Muhlestein, Amanda, and Jamie Price bring the sea to life.

 The Judd and Muhlestein children added their handprints to the grass under the cityscape

.Progress continues on the Shuk and Egypt as well.

Some wet days slowed the project, but the accompanying clouds brought new beauty to the real cityscape.

 As the end of the semester drew near, the mural moved closer to completion.

Working around the clock, and determined to finish before they got on the plane, Justin Haslem, Austin Ko, Jamie Price, Cherysh Hubbard, and Amy Carsten finalized the mural just in time.  I wish I had a Zane-quality camera to show off the student's marvelous paintings!

So lifelike, you wish you could reach out and pick a pomegranate!

What would Egypt be without a cat?

It was hard to watch our first group of students leave. They will always hold a special place in our hearts, and I am so grateful I had this opportunity to work on an amazing project with them. Our kids and the future children of the BYU Jerusalem Center will enjoy their artwork for years to come.